Basic economics would tell you if there is a demand for something, suppliers will likely come forward to fill that need.

Same philosophy goes for drug use. If people want to use, suppliers will find a way to get their product to those people.

Ever since the United States started blowing up alleged drug boats off the Venezuelan coast and killing the people on board I’ve been astounded that the drug use problem in the United States has not been much of a topic in the news or in casual conversations.

The government would have us believe it’s all about stopping drugs from reaching the United States. However, cutting off the supply does not curtail the demand.

Maybe I’m naïve, but it would seem like if we could reduce the demand, then it would not matter what the supply is.

According to a January report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “From 2023 to 2024, rates of drug overdose deaths declined for all age groups, with the largest decreases occurring for younger age groups.”

That’s a great trend. Even so, one overdose death is one too many. Millions just in this country are using illegal drugs on a regular basis. Wouldn’t trying to help them be a better use of federal resources?

You might ask: Why shouldn’t I be happy if their drug of choice is harder to get? It’s not whether I’d be happy or unhappy, it’s that I don’t believe blowing up boats in the Caribbean is what the United States should be doing.

I don’t believe what the U.S. is doing is legal. It’s certainly not humane. It certainly has nothing to do with justice. And I’m pretty sure it really has nothing to do with drugs.

“Drug overdoses take about 100,000 American lives each year. President Donald Trump has claimed each of his airstrikes on 35 Venezuelan boats saves at least 25,000 lives by targeting trafficking, which should put us eight years ahead,” Time magazine reports. “Except no evidence of any drug cargo has been revealed. And Venezuela is not a major transit point for fentanyl, which caused most overdoses.”

But let’s just say they are drug boats. This should never be how the United States operates. It is wrong on so many levels.